|
|
We are deeply saddened to share that Dr. Paul Evensen, the Founding Director of the Community Innovation and Action Center at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, passed away on Saturday, June 19th from complications of cancer. He was 53.
Paul’s legacy is deep and expansive. After growing up between Oregon and Mexico, he found his way to South Carolina for college and began his career organizing HIV prevention collaboratives for the American Red Cross in the early 1990s. While there, Paul also co-founded Affirm Youth — a nonprofit serving LGBT, homeless, and at-risk youth along the I-85 corridor between Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC — and ProJustice Carolina, a grassroots community organizing group advocating for gay and lesbian health and civil rights issues.
Paul returned to graduate school in 1996 to pursue a Master’s and PhD in Behavioral Psychology at the University of Kansas through the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Community Health and Development. Shortly into the program — while politely disregarding the advice of his advisor, Steve Fawcett — Paul launched a consulting company, Community Systems Group, that accelerated the impact of Paul’s work across the country.
Throughout the next two decades, Paul worked with hundreds of community coalitions addressing a variety of concerns including immunization, literacy, youth suicide, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, nutrition, crime, school readiness, college access, homelessness, food security, and HIV. He specialized in the evaluation of community coalitions and how data can help coalition volunteers improve, celebrate, and sustain their important work. During this time, Paul also served as the Lead Evaluator for Safe Streets of Topeka, Principal Author and Lead Trainer for CADCA’s National Coalition Academy, and the designated Subject Matter Expert for the National Guard Bureau’s Domestic Operations Joint Directorate’s Civil Operations Program.
After becoming one of the nation’s leading evaluation firms specializing in comprehensive community initiatives, Community Systems Group joined the Forum for Youth Investment, a national nonprofit based in Washington D.C. From 2011 to 2015, Paul served as the Executive Vice President for Community Planning and Evaluation for the Forum, working to support efforts like Ready by 21 and other initiatives aimed at improving population-level health, academic, and social outcomes for youth.
In 2015, Paul reoriented his work to focus on place-based strategies in the St. Louis region in pursuit of racial equity and opportunity for all. He founded Social Innovation St. Louis — a partnership with the Wyman Center, where he also served as the Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives — to advance efforts focused on cross-sector collaboration, data connectivity, and nonprofit capacity building. This work caught the attention of the University of Missouri - St. Louis, which hired Paul in 2018 to run what became the Community Innovation and Action Center. Paul established deep relationships across the university and its partners, leading and supporting strategies to leverage university resources for maximum community benefit.
Paul’s vision will be carried forward by countless colleagues and friends who share his commitment to equity and have learned so much from his ideas and example.
Paul is survived by his beloved husband, Mark Barlow, and his parents, William and Nonnie (nee Torti) Evensen. Donations can be made in Paul’s honor to the Wyman Center and Stray Rescue. Colleagues at UMSL and across the community are also planning other ways to honor Paul’s life and career.
Paul’s visitation will be this Friday, 4 to 8pm at Hoffmeister Colonial Mortuary in South St. Louis. Funeral services are this Saturday at 11am (with a visitation from 10 to 11am) at First Congregational Church of St. Louis in Clayton. In memory of Paul and Mark's love of Hawaii, please feel free to wear tropical attire. Additional information about these services can be found here.
| |
|
|
|
|
